Chapter 22: A Heaping Haul

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Memorizing 50 pictures in one minute?

The crowd at the forestage fell silent instantly.

Frankly speaking, being able to memorize 30 pictures in one minute was already out of this world, let alone memorizing 50 pictures – unless you were f*cking Superman?

“Oh?” Ma Tianxiao narrowed his eyes at Huang Xiaolong, trying to detect a crack in his facade.

Huang Xiaolong had on an unwaveringly innocent expression. Under the illumination of the stage lights, his patched-up polyester shirt was an eyesore and looked out of place.

‘The f*ck, the record for the Asian Memory Championship was only 47 pictures in a minute. Plus, this is a long-held record that would remain unchallenged for the time being…this bumpkin is setting me up for a double bluff! What a sly hillbilly!’

Since young, Ma Tianxiao had been carrying the title of a prodigy; he had single-handedly built his empire from scratch and was praised to be outstanding. He was no stranger to big scenes and had great mental resilience. After a brief moment of astonishment, he recovered his composure and responded jovially, “Ok, since you want to play this game, I’ll humor you- let’s memorize 50 pictures in one minute then.”

“Let’s get started right away then!” Huang Xiaolong nodded, grinning from ear to ear before glancing at the remaining prizes on the stage with undisguised ‘greed’.

Standing at the forestage, Cui Feiyan’s eyebrows furrowed in unease.


In terms of her personal feelings, Cui Feiyan might not have a good impression of Huang Xiaolong but she detested Ma Tianxiao’s arrogance even more. Between both, Cui Feiyan actually hoped that Huang Xiaolong would win instead.

Having said so, Ma Tianxiao was exceptional when it came to memory power and was akin to royalty in this field. No matter how gifted Huang Xiaolong could be, it would still be challenging to go up against Ma Tianxiao…

‘Forget it, even if he loses to Ma Tianxiao, it’s nothing embarrassing. In fact, his courage to face his opponents head-on is impressive.’ Cui Feiyan’s impression of Huang Xiaolong was starting to shift imperceptibly.

On the stage.

After testing the equipment, the male emcee looked at Ma Tianxiao and nodded.

Ma Tianxiao reached out for a ballpoint pen and an answer board from a staff member, before nodding in approval as well.

“Ok, esteemed friends, the fourth round of the Memory Breakthrough event is about to begin…in this round, CEO Ma, who is the founder of the Golden Charm Memory Training agency will demonstrate his incredible memory power!” The male emcee beamed confidently while sucking up to his boss.

He believed that Huang Xiaolong was no match for Ma Tianxiao!

Right now, everything ready. Huang Xiaolong and Ma Tianxiao both stood in front of the big LED screen.

Ma Tianxiao’s expression sharpened in focus, his entire being emitting a wild aura.

Huang Xiaolong appeared to be laid-back, even somewhat disinterested.

The truth is that when Huang Xiaolong was 13 or 14 years old, he had followed a long-lost secret formula and picked medicinal herbs in the mountains to turn into pills and brews which he consumed to temper his body. Hence, his body, nerve reflexes, physical fitness, memory power, immune system, and strike resistance far surpassed that of an average person.

He has a photographic memory; even memorizing more than 100 pictures in one minute was an easy feat, let alone 50 pictures!

What a grand sight! The entire LED screen was filled up by 50 pictures, no more, no less!

The 60-second countdown began!

Huang Xiaolong’s demeanor shifted slightly, portraying a hint of sharpness in his otherwise calm state, as his eyes swept across the big LED screen. 

Ma Tianxiao’s brows were knitted, his expression deadly serious. During the final few seconds, his face took on a tortured expression and turned slightly pale. He looked like he was on the verge of collapse from over-exerting his brain. 

Ma Tianxiao’s memory power limited him to 45 pictures in one minute. He had hoped to make use of this opportunity to beat his own record, unfortunately, he was not only unsuccessful but also exhausted countless brain cells.

The 60-second countdown was over!

Ma Tianxiao let out a deep breath, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He removed his glasses and handed over the answer board to a nearby staff member, before using his two hands to massage his temples.

After a moment of collecting his thoughts, Ma Tianxiao picked up the answer board again and began writing away speedily with the ballpoint pen.

Several minutes later…

“Show your answer boards!” The male emcee announced loudly.

First up, Ma Tianxiao.

The male emcee carefully took hold of the completed answer board from Ma Tianxiao, scanned it briefly, and gasped, “CEO Ma has memorized 45 pictures successfully! The sequence is flawless! All correct!”

A wave of praises and astonished gasps rose and fell in succession amongst the audience.

Although Ma Tianxiao was not able to memorize all 50 pictures, it did not negate the fact that he had displayed remarkable memory prowess.

“Incredible! I’ve made up my mind, I want to take classes at the Golden Charm Memory Training agency, hopefully, CEO Ma will coach me personally!”

“CEO Ma is truly a cut above the rest! Impressive! Impressive!”

“Today I’ve really witnessed something else, to think that one’s memory power could actually reach this level, I mean f*ck, this is some kind of supernatural power…”

Ma Tianxiao was enjoying the showers of flattery and worship immensely. He gave a sidelong glance toward Cui Feiyan before turning to Huang Xiaolong with a mocking smile.

Huang Xiaolong’s answer board was completely blank, without a single word written.

“Defeated with a single blow…” Ma Tianxiao muttered under his breath.

“Please display your answer board.” The male emcee walked toward Huang Xiaolong with a smug expression.

“Oh.” Huang Xiaolong handed over the blank answer board.

“Pfft…you can’t remember even one picture? Hahahaha…young man, weren’t you quite cocky? Didn’t you suggest memorizing 50 pictures in one minute? Does your face hurt1 now?” The male emcee taunted.

Boos and jeers could be heard from the forestage.

A feeling of pity arose within Cui Feiyan as she thought to herself, ‘I didn’t expect him to be unable to perform at all. Perhaps the pressure got to him.’

“Apologies, you won’t be winning the prizes for the fourth round.” Ma Tianxiao mocked.

“That’s not true…I did memorize all 50 pictures. It’s just that it’s too troublesome to write them all out on the answer board. How about this, I’ll tell you the answers one at a time and you guys flip over the picture on the screen to reveal it. We’ll see if I memorized them incorrectly,” Huang Xiaolong grinned.

“Impossible!” Ma Tianxiao snapped, before curling his lips, “You really won’t admit defeat until the end, fine, go ahead.”

“The picture at the top left corner is from a poem, ‘if only life were as beautiful as at first sight, why should the autumn wind bother to pity deserted painted fans’…”1

Huang Xiaolong had hardly finished his description when the staff members flipped over the corresponding picture. Sure enough, the contents of the picture matched what Huang Xiaolong had said perfectly, not a word out of place!

Deafening silence!

Then, Huang Xiaolong started describing non-stop, illustrating the contents of every single picture in turn. Every picture, once revealed by the staff members, elicited astonished gasps from the audience below.

Finally…

All the answers to the 50 pictures were correct!

Thunderous applause ensued!

Cui Feiyan could not help but clap along as well.

Victory!

Huang Xiaolong had defeated Ma Tianxiao in a one-on-one battle!

The crucial bit was that Huang Xiaolong appeared to remain energetic, as though the win was effortless.

“You…you…you…how is this possible…this…” Ma Tianxiao felt his face burning red-hot like he had been slapped viciously several times. He felt horrified, humiliated, and bitterly resentful! 

Being humiliated over today’s failure was not the worst outcome, rather it was the fear of ruining the Golden Charm Memory Training agency’s hallmark reputation! It could have a huge impact on Ma Tianxiao’s future business endeavors!

“Hmph!” Ma Tianxiao dared not stay on the stage any longer. He felt like a clown, and even a second longer of staying would humiliate him further. 

“You little sh*t, you…you’ve got guts! However, I, Ma Tianxiao will not let it go that easily! I will pay it all back, the humiliation today, by a hundred and thousand-fold! Just you wait!” Ma Tianxiao glared at Huang Xiaolong with a murderous glint in his eyes. If looks could kill, Huang Xiaolong would have been hacked into pieces by now!

He cursed inwardly at Huang Xiaolong, gnashing his teeth, before walking off the stage in defeat.

“Oh, you even want to take revenge on me? You city people really are sore losers…” Huang Xiaolong shook his head slightly. “Wait, CEO Ma, it’s probably best if you don’t drive today. I can see that the area around your cheekbone is slightly gray in color; as the saying goes ‘if the cheekbones look like ink, it’s easy to get into a car accident’. Looking at the color of your cheekbones, if you were to get into a car accident, you would suffer from a concussion or a fracture at the very least…be careful.”

Thump!

Upon hearing Huang Xiaolong’s words, the already fuming Ma Tianxiao was even more in rage, causing him to misstep and slipped on his way down the stage.

“Pfft…” Upon seeing Ma Tianxiao’s flustered appearance, Cui Feiyan could barely restrain a smile before shaking her head silently and thought, ‘This hillbilly really is wicked to look this straight-faced even after cursing someone to get into a car accident…’

Even though Ma Tianxiao had left, the prizes still needed to be awarded.

The prizes for the fourth round of the Memory Breakthrough event were extravagant indeed…

A LeTV Super TV!

A Sony LCD color TV!

A Gree upright air conditioner!

A large Siemens side-by-side door refrigerator!


An 8-kilogram Haier inverter washing machine!

Right now, Huang Xiaolong considered himself very fortunate!

He ran down the stage to share his joy with Cui Feiyan.

“Feiyan, I’ve won all the prizes! It’s so amazing! If only there are such events every day, then I wouldn’t even have to find work to do!” Huang Xiaolong declared with all the contentment of a little petty bourgeoisie.

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“You are incredible.” Cui Feiyan complimented Huang Xiaolong as part of her impartial assessment. “However, it was immoral of you to curse someone to get into a car accident.”

“I didn’t curse anyone.” Huang Xiaolong blinked innocently. “He really is likely to get into a car accident today.”

“Forget it, I’ll stop bantering with you,” Cui Feiyan said as she ran her fingers through her hair and she looked very womanly doing that. “I’ve already called for a pick-up to help transport all the prizes back to your home.”

“Oh, Feiyan, thank you, you really are thoughtful.” Huang Xiaolong said while taking stock of his prizes. He shoved several prizes such as the women’s perfume and the LV handbag all toward Cui Feiyan. “Feiyan, I won’t have much use for these things, so I’ll give them all to you. Also, I won’t choose any presents today, whatever I lacked at home, I’ve already bought, how great.”

Cui Feiyan was slow to react as she held onto the perfume and handbag that Huang Xiaolong had given her, feeling somewhat lost. ‘I was going to give him a present and instead he gave me one…this, this script isn’t right!’

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